Flea Speaks About Unreleased 2003 Red Hot Chili Peppers Album

Last week, Flea took questions from fans on Twitter. During the session, the bassist was asked about plans to officially release more songs that the Red Hot Chili Peppers recorded for their 2003 Greatest Hits album.

"Will you guys ever release the songs from the 2004 era?" one fan asked. "I'd especially love to have 'Leverage of Space' in good quality." To which Flea responded “'Mini-Epic' was a good one from the session too," he responded. "Did that ever come out? You’d know better than me."

The studio recordings of both songs remain in the vaults, although "Leverage of Space" found a home on 2004's Live in Hyde Park and "Mini-Epic (Kill for Your Country)" came out on 2015's archival release, Cardiff, Wales: 6/23/04. "Fortune Faded" and "Save the Population" were the new tracks that were used to promote Greatest Hits, and two other songs, "Rolling Sly Stone" and "Desecration Smile," were also performed on the Roll on the Red tour. A re-written version of "Desecration Smile" appeared on 2006's Stadium Arcadium.

In 2011, drummer Chad Smith discussed the recording sessions in an interview with Modern Drummer. "So we went in to write a couple during the next break on the tour we were on at the time, and we recorded like sixteen songs," he said. "They weren't all great, but twelve of them were probably good."

Then, after a tour following the release of Greatest Hits, Smith suggested creating a new album out of the best of those some new material, but, as Smith added, guitarist John Frusciante "was like, “Hmmm… that was like nine months ago; I’m not really doing the arpeggiated thing anymore. I’m playing differently, I’m listening to different stuff, so I’m going to write different music.' So there’s an album that we did that I don’t know if anyone’s ever going to hear."

Flea returned to Twitter on Aug. 29, saying that he had left because he "was focusing my word writing energy elsewhere." On Sept. 25, we'll see how that focus has paid off in the form of Acid for the Children. a 400-page memoir that has been in the works since at least 2014. The book chronicles his “move from a ‘normal’ upbringing in the suburbs of New York to Los Angeles to live a bohemian life with a jazz musician step-father; his young, rebellious life on the streets of L.A. where he befriends Anthony Kiedis and founds the Red Hot Chili Peppers with Kiedis and two other high school friends; details about his sometimes complex friendship and collaboration with Kiedis; his myriad experiences with hard drugs; and, of course, the tumultuous creative journey of the legendary Red Hot Chili Peppers through its various incarnations over the last 30 years, according to Flea.”

During the time away from social media, he learned that "[t]here is nothing better on earth than playing trumpet in the bathroom." He also recommended the music of Senegalese musician Modou Mbaye Seck.